Cooking The Books

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to make a career break financially possible. Hosted by Frances Cook. Taking a career break sounds like a luxurious treat for the millionaires amongst us, but actually, it's more common than you realise. It also doesn't have to be financially ruinous. There are lots of reasons to take a break, and research from Hays recruitment in 2019 gives us an insight into that. They found that 64 per cent of women and 49 per cent of men take at least one career break in their lifetime. For women the biggest reason for a career break is having a child, coming in at 41 per cent, followed distantly by travelling, at 14 per cent.It's quite different for the men, with travel being the biggest reason at 25 per cent, followed by studying or retraining at 21 per cent. Whatever the reason, a career break can be something you turn to your advantage, or it can hurt you. Sometimes you need a breather in order to work out the next be